Welcome back to our weekly survey of the state of Our National Dialogue which, of course, is what Purcell would have come up with had he composed "Fido And Aeneas."

It was Crazy North Korean Guy week on The Sunday Showz, as the wacky shenanigans of the new young Dear Leader took pride of place away from the general overall lust for austerity and whatever it is that fires the brain of Lindsey Graham, who got to shake is not-at-all inconspicuous tail feather onDisco Dave's Disco Dance Party. Huckleberry Closetcase wanted to assure us that Kim Jong-un is indeed a little crazy, and this is something up with which South Korea may not put much longer. Then, the Dancin' Master cut to the quick.

We put together some facts so people have some sense of him. It was his father Kim Jong-il who ran the country, so he's his son. We don't even know his actual age. He's about 29-years-old. He came to power in December of 2011, educated in — in the west. I know from talking to people at the White House one of the big fears is miscalculation here. We don't really talk to the North.

Part of the reason that "we" don't talk to the North is because, if the administration ever really tried, the howls from people like, say, Lindsey Graham would drown out the roar of the sea. But let's let Huck do his own talking here.

If you sold this as a movie script, I don't think he'd buy — buy it. A 30-year-old guy whose father was born out of a mountain, who had nine holes in ones the first time he played golf. This is a surreal place called North Korea and I blame the Chinese more than anybody else. They're afraid of reunification. They don't want a democratic Korea next to China, so they're propping up this crazy regime, and they could determine the fate of North Korea better than anybody on the planet.

Well, that was helpful. Here, let me repeat all the family myths of the House Of Cuckoo Bananas that controls the world's fourth-largest army, and then let me blame China for its continued existence. I'm reassured. This is a surreal place called Washington D.C. and, frankly, I blame whoever it is that books these shows. They then moved on to Syria, where Huckleberry advised arming the opposition, but not before we arrange for the repeal of the Law Of Unintended Consequences.

The worst is yet to come regarding Syria if we don't fix this soon. Jordan is being overrun by Syrian refugees. And before I would arm the rebels, I want a commitment by them that they will allow an international force to secure the 17 chemical weapon sites, enough weapons to kill millions of people, and commit to destroying those weapons. In the new Syria, they will reject owning chemical weapons. If they would do those two things, I told them, I think there would be more involvement by the — by the Congress, there would be more willingness by the Congress to help them. They've got to commit to destroying those weapons and allowing us — the international community controlling those weapons.

Why, exactly, would the rebels agree to this and, why, if they did, should we believe they would abide by the promise? If they do what Huckleberry asks, and we arm them and support them, and they win, they become Ours forever. They can tell us to go whistle on the chemical weapons and what do we do? Take them to the UN? Stop payment on the check? Cut them off so Whoever Comes Next starts running Syria? Will any of the geopolitical fantasts who advise U.S. foreign policy ever realize that, in a situation like this, the client becomes the master pretty quickly? Either that, or we start running their country. There's rarely a third alternative.

But the audience cheered, and started waving lighters, so Huckleberry knew he had to trot out his greatest hit — the long, dance mix version ofBenghazi, Benghazi! BENGHAZI! (If You Can't Dance, Too). From the classic opening riffs, during a discussion of (Lord, no) Hillary Clinton's presidential run, the place went wild.

I think after eight years of Barack Obama, if things don't change the next Democrat running for president will be in trouble. She will be a formidable candidate. I think her time as secretary of state is mixed. Benghazi is yet to be told completely. But anybody who underestimates her on the Republican side would do so at a peril but, yes she can be beaten. Anybody can be beaten in this country.

There you have it. Benghazi will be the new cattle-futures in the next Clinton campaign.

Over on This Week With The Clinton Guy Shocked By Blowjobs,Dan Pfeiffer dropped by from the White House to talk about the possibility of a budget deal and brought with him his Child's Golden Book Of Beltway Banality.

PFEIFFER: Well, a couple of things. One, Senator Sanders is a passionate advocate, and has been a big supporter of the president. This president will — this — this chained CPI that's being referred to here, is something the president will only accept on two conditions. It's something Speaker Boehner and — and Senator McConnell asked for in the context of the original negotiations, and those two conditions are, one, It's part of a balanced package that includes asking — closing tax loopholes to benefit the wealthiest, and, two, that it has protections for the most — for the most vulnerable, including the oldest seniors.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So there will be some carve outs there?

PFEIFFER: Absolutely. And look, this is compromise. And compromise means there are going to be some folks on both sides who are not happy.

Just kill me now. Yes, "some people" will not be happy about closing some tax loopholes for the 11 minutes it will take for 50 new ones to be opened. Meanwhile, "some people" will not be happy with the permanent abandonment by a Democratic president of 70 years of Democratic social policy. Meanwhile, some other people will be trying to decide between Meow Mix and FancyFeast for lunch. So we will have the country divided between the Not Happy, the Not Happy, and the Not Eating. Well done, lads.

Meanwhile, the Powerhouse Panel went completely to the zoo. First of all, what does Greta Van Susteren bring to any table on any discussion of any import whatsoever? Will the Undead of the OJ Trial ever cease haunting the land? Perhaps she was there simply to terrify George Effing Will, who already was terrified by the Dark Realm above the 38th Parallel.

When Donald Rumsfeld was secretary of defense the second time around, he had in his Pentagon office on a table under glass, a satellite photograph taken at night of Korean peninsula, it's ablaze of light right up to the 38th parallel and then it's dark. Up dim, it's dark. It tells two things. First, it's primitive country, can't even have electricity. And metaphorically it's dark. We have no idea what's going on in there. The problem is deterrence depends on rationality, it depends on a certain threshold of rationality and a certain threshold of concern for the lives of your own citizens, which his regime shows precious little of..

Whoops. Hang on. It appears that Greta actually once passed through the Gates Of Mordor, and she has brought back some impressions that lead one to conclude that, every time she goes to Disney World, she comes home and lays in supplies against the next invasion by pirates.

Oh, absolutely. In fact, the whole time we were there, all we saw was preparation for war. You know, we tend to look at North Korea as Americans from your viewpoint, sort of a sense of like why would they do anything, like why would they provoke the world? If you go inside, they have been at war with us since the early 1950s. They think that every single one of us is spending every Saturday night sitting around planning how to get them while we're busy ordering pizzas and Chinese food carryout, they think that we're getting ready for war. Even their performances in terms of — I went two performances of 130,000 people — it's all nationalistic, we're beating the Americans, they're coming to us, we're fighting — and I think they'll see those ships as not — as U.S. naval ships as provocation. And you've got the other problem that April 15th is Kim il-Sung's birthday. And they're going to want to do something spectacular for the birthday.

We conclude over on CBS, where former special correspondent to the court of King Canute Bob Schieffer managed to pry the reclusive John McCain out of his otherwise monastic existence to talk about a lot of things over which John McCain can exercise no influence whatsoever. For example, McCain seemed mystified over why gun-control can't seem to get a vote one way or another in the chamber of the national legislature in which he is often mistaken for an actual leader.

I would not only encourage it. I don't understand it. What are we afraid of? Why would we not want, if this issue is as important as all of us think it is, why not take it on the world's greatest deliberative — that's the greatest exaggeration in history, by the way — but, you know, why not take it up an amendment and debate. The American people will profit from it. I do not understand why United States senators want to block debate when the leader has said that we can have amendments.

Because your side of the aisle is made up of crazy people and the people who are afraid of the crazy people, that's why. If this were Pyongyang, they'd all be marching alongside the missiles, chanting slogans, and scaring the hell out of Greta Van Susteren.